ORIGIN - Smoky Quartz

A quartz chrysalis rested on the shore of the Crystal River, half-buried in silt. It was unassuming; smokey grey and brown tendrils curling across its surface and making it hard to see through. Within its walls was a small alligator, every inch of her skin covered with armor and pressing relentlessly against every centimeter of quartz. She shifted - and that was enough. The movement cracked the walls, quartz shattering into dozens of tiny shards to free the hatchling trapped inside.

She blinked, taking in the world around her with remarkable calm given it was her first time seeing it. Her gaze swept over the glowing crystals, the luminescent fungi dotting the ceiling, the shards of her chrysalis, and the nearby river. She wasn't sure what to do now - but the river seemed as good a place to start as any.

Awkwardly, she wobbled over to the water. Perhaps, had the esoteric magic within her been more cooperative, she would have grown her own fungi behind her, but this time there was no such trail. Her progress was far from quick; this was her first time moving and she found it hard to coordinate her movements. She continued nevertheless, finally reaching the edge and then slipping into the water, where she felt much more at home. The current was not particularly strong here and the alligator found moving in the water much easier. Still, she stayed close to the edge of the water, not wanting to risk going into deeper water.

There were no trees here, nothing to climb carefully and cautiously, nowhere to gaze down at the floor of the swamp, or whatever, no altitude to gain. Her tailed felt useless, curling hopelessly around rocks that shifted by her weight. She had only come in here because...well, she didn't actually remember why. She had come in here for some reason. Maybe she would remember it later.

She kept herself as elevated as possible as she moved slowly through the cave, but she eventually gave up as it seemed that every ledge eventually ended and she would have to climb down again, wasting precious energy. But then of course, being Lethe, she forgot about this and continued to climb up and down up and down until she was so tired she had to stop.

She climbed onto a high, flat boulder and draped herself across it, feeling all of the energy leave her body at once. Why was she so tired? She couldn't remember. Everything was cold here and Lethe hated it. Why was she here again? No point in wondering. She was here and that's all that mattered.

Too tired to think any more, she drifted off into a lazy doze. The sound of the cracking gem disturbed her sleep, but she did her best to ignore it. Hopefully whatever it was wouldn't make anymore sound. However, that wasn't to be as even the gentle splash as the creature slipped into water was audible to her - and extremely annoying.

Frowning, Lethe slowly turned and leaned over the rock, glaring down at the lizard in the water below. "Mind keeping it down," she growled. "I'm trying to sleep."

@Cocytus

Frowning (as much as an alligator could frown, anyway), Cocytus twisted to face the whatever-it-was scolding her. The movement sent ripples through the nearby water. Cocytus paid them no heed; they were pretty but she was focused on something else right now. Perhaps the other Gembound might think the noise annoying, but the alligator saw no such problem. She found them too quiet to bother her.

I wasn't making any noise, she wanted to say. She hadn't done anything wrong! She was minding her own business and being quiet, not roaring at the world or laughing or talking loudly. So of course Cocytus found the other Gembound's accusations completely unfair. Still - didn't she have a right to sleep in peace? Forcibly clamping her jaws shut so she wouldn't be tempted to retort and using every bit of willpower in her body to keep from flicking her tail in annoyance, Cocytus turned away as quietly as she could and swam away.

As she drew farther away, however, she couldn't contain the bubble of discontent growing in her stomach. She had been minding her own business, not making any noise a sane Gembound would consider loud, and that thing had just accused her anyway! Seething at the unfairness of it all, Cocytus lunged at an unfortunate fish nearby with surprising speed. It was slimy and tasted terrible, she thought, lashing her tail, unaware that she had not in fact traveled a great distance away from the complainer and could probably still be heard.

@Lethe

Lethe pulled back her head as the crocodile stared at her, not really caring as she felt herself lull back into a slumber. Within seconds, she had completely forgotten the encounter. Until, of course, she was awoken again by a loud splash.

Jerking away again, but not remembering at all what had happen only a moment before, she crawled her way to the edge of the rock and leaned over. He eyebrows furrowed and she frowned angrily. What even was that thing? Scales instead of fur? And swimming? And eating fish?

"Mind keeping it down," she called down. "I'm trying to sleep." Even the fact that she spoke in the exact tone and inflection didn't remind her that she had, in fact, already spoken those words. At least this time the reptile had made an actual splash.

@Cocytus

Cocytus spun around in a sudden movement to face the other Gembound. It had just said the exact same thing in the exact same tone! Was it making fun of her?!

Except this time, she realized, she had indeed made a noise, meaning the furry one... wasn't really being unfair this time. Forcing down her anger, she kept quiet. Still, saying the exact same thing to her? If it had been Cocytus and the furry one had made an actual noise the first time, she would be significantly more annoyed now.

Her curiosity was imploring her to investigate further. Cocytus swam forward as quietly as she could, as if sneaking up on prey. There, she thought with satisfaction. Now she could observe them at a closer distance and ran no risk of annoying them with sound.

@Lethe

Lethe locked eyes with the lizard and she could see the anger in their eyes. Whatever. They were the one disturbing her after all. She had just found a really nice place for a nap and didn't need some angry lizard arguing with her. She didn't have the energy for it.

She watched carefully and waited for it to do something, wondering if it would retaliate and be extra loud. That would be extra annoying, wouldn't it? But to her mild surprise, it moved slowly and silently. She thought for sure that it would get angry at her.

She smiled softly, her eyes drooping drowsily. "Ah, that's better, thank you." And she really meant it - the quiet was so much more preferable to the loud splashing noise they had been making before. Without bothering to move back to her original position, her head dropped on the edge of the rock and her eyes closed. Within seconds, she was snoring softly.

@Cocytus

The furry one showed no sign of intentionally mocking Cocytus. Instead, she just drifted off to sleep. Perhaps she had better annoyance management than the alligator did, but it had sounded plenty annoyed the first time (when she was actually not making much noise).

Still, she had thanked Cocytus and not bothered her anymore. And - she was smiling. A warm feeling blossomed in the alligator's belly, and she decided she liked making others smile. Perhaps in the future, she could do so without annoying them first. A worthy goal, she decided.

She waited for a moment longer to make sure the other Gembound was really asleep, then slipped away as quietly as she could. The water rippled as she moved, but the small movements would be easily disguised by the flow of the river.

-- exit

Lethe didn't notice the crocodile swim away - too deep in sleep, she was oblivious to the world around her. She would not remember the meeting when she awoke but the memory of the crocodile would stash away in her mind - deep within, hard to reach, but she would, at least, remember them.

*exit